"And me and Kate have our own cubby holes at school but they're going to be someone else's now because we're in second grade, and we get to go visit our Daddy's office and we make him lots of pictures and he puts them on the wall so everyone can see them and we make them for Mommy too but she doesn't have an office but she has lots of friends who she shows them to and they think that we're good at drawing and…"
"Tess honey, let's have some dinner now, okay?" Carol called, seeing the exasperated look on Rachel's face. Tess obediently ran over to the table and climbed into a chair, sitting on her knees so that she could more easily reach things. Mark and Elizabeth brought out a large bowl of salad and some French bread. Tess made a face and looked to her mother, "Just a little salad Tess."
"Don't worry Tess, there's some pizza coming." Elizabeth smiled as Tess gobbled down her newly served salad.
"Okay, I ate my salad, can I have the pizza now?" she asked, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Do you like pizza Rachel? I love pizza."
"Pizza is okay." Rachel said in-between forkfuls of salad.
"What's your favorite kind? Do you like olive pizza?" she asked.
"Not really," Rachel admitted. For a 6 year old she found an awful lot of things to talk about and Rachel wondered if she'd been that bad when she was that age.
"Me neither!" Tess exclaimed. "Daddy, did you hear that? Rachel doesn't like olives on her pizza either!"
"That's great Tess," Doug replied. "But why don't you give the rest of us a chance to talk now?"
"You know what would help me be quiet, daddy?" Tess said, not waiting for a response before answering her own question, "Pizza."
Mark sighed before excusing himself and returning with a big slice of cheese pizza. "Do you like cheese pizza?"
"Yes! It's my favorite!" Tess said happily as it was set down in front of her. "Thank you Uncle Mark!"
"You're welcome." He said politely. Although he hadn't really believed that the noise would cease once she had the pizza, he was happy to find out it did. Tess definitely knew who she was and what she needed to say to get her way. "So Doug, Elizabeth was telling me about some interesting positions available at county."
"Mark…" Doug warned. "We're here on vacation and that means no work for 3 months."
"Well, after those three months have you two considered…"
"Mark!" Carol said in a hushed tone, "We're not moving to Chicago. We're thrilled to see you guys, but we couldn't do that to the girls."
"Told you so." Elizabeth replied with a smug grin on her face.
"Told me so?" he replied. "This was your idea!"
"My idea? Oh, I don't think so." Elizabeth replied, swatting him and then kissing him before assisting him in clearing the salad plates and brining out pizza for the remaining 5.
Carol, who was enjoying the good conversation and recollection of old times was constantly turning her head towards where the white receiver sat. Being as preoccupied as she was, it was difficult to continue a conversation straight through and after Tess and Rachel had left the table to play a rousing game of war ((a simple card game involving pure luck, which can take upwards of an hour to finish)) she gave up trying to be discreet. Doug knew what she was thinking and said, "Why don't I go check on her."
"Thanks Doug," she said gratefully, giving him a long kiss as Mark and Elizabeth looked on, smiling as if they'd intruded on a private moment. "I'll be right back."
"So, Tess tells me that you've got the girls in gymnastics?" Mark said; sifting through the mountains of information he'd heard in the lounge.
"Well we thought it'd be fun for them, and they don't seem to notice that we're gone when they've got other activities." Carol laughed. "You know, they're at that age where everything is about them, and if it's not it's got to be taken personally."
"Do you two get to see each other as much as you'd like?" Elizabeth asked, knowing how difficult it was for them to completely coordinate their schedules so they could be off at the same time.
"Since Doug has a private practice it's a little easier to find the time, but he goes in pretty early in the morning so we'll try to do lunch or grab some coffee before picking the girls up; it can be a little complicated." She admitted. "We do have a lot of time at the end of the day though, it's nice that neither of us work nights, so while he's pretty much on-call all day and night, there's rarely a problem. Our latest challenge has really just been getting the kids to give us some couch time."
"They're in that 'if it's not about me it doesn't matter' phase?" Mark asked.
"Yes! When does it end?" Carol's voice dropped melodramatically.
"I'm still waiting." Mark laughed, thinking about his own daughter.
"Got something you want to share with the class there Mark?" Carol asked jokingly. She knew he'd had his trials with Rachel, and certainly having a teenage daughter was a lot to contend with, but they seemed to get along relatively well.
"Hey, why don't we break open that bottle of champagne when Doug gets back?" Elizabeth asked, trying to stay involved in the conversation.
"Sounds good to me," Carol replied, "So tell me more about what's been going on since I left."
"Oh you know, the usual. Kerry's gotten a bit worse since Dr. Lewis arrived, but I suppose that's to be expected." Elizabeth admitted.
"You know, they never really got along the first time she was here, I'm surprised Susan even wanted to come back with Kerry around." He shook his head as Doug walked back in the door, holding a box of chocolates.
"Chocolate for Madame?" he said, holding the box out to Carol and Elizabeth. "Monsieur? Chocolate?"
"Thanks Doug, great." Mark said; grabbing for one of the chocolates, as Elizabeth popped the top on the bottle of champagne.
Carol looked anxiously at Doug for a second before he caught the hint and said, "She's fine; from the way she looks she's been asleep since we left her room."
Carol laughed while Mark and Elizabeth sat puzzled, "Tangled up in her sheets. Both twins, about an hour after they've fallen asleep, wind up twisted and tangled in their sheets in some very interesting positions."
"She's got her foot next to her ear right now and the sheet is tucked behind her head." Doug laughed, "I took a picture for keepsake. So how are things going with Rachel?"
"She's a teenager." Mark answered.
"That bad, huh?" Doug joked. "She seems like a good kid Mark, she's always been a little independent, but you know…"
"No, she is, she's a great kid but she's growing up. Next year she'll be a senior in high school." Mark said, turning his champagne glass absent mindedly.
"I think he's got a bit of the early empty nest syndrome." Elizabeth said playfully.
"Hey, next thing you know Kate and Tess are going to be off to high school and the four of us can be miserable together," Doug joked. Carol stuck out her lip in a pout, similar to one the girls used on him when they weren't getting their ways. "What's wrong?"
"Doug, I can handle them being in second grade, but did you have to skip all the way to high school?" she asked. The group then moved over to the living room and relaxed on the couches, Doug and Carol not missing a second of cuddle time. Soon their conversation died down as Mark and Elizabeth were visibly exhausted and, after checking her watch, Carol said, "Maybe we should let you guys get to bed. It's definitely time for Tess to get to sleep."
Mark nodded, "I think we've definitely had enough for the day, but it's the champagne that really did it for me. What do you guys have planned for tomorrow?"
"Well we were planning on hitting the zoo, but maybe we should save that for another time." Doug said; thinking of Kate and knowing she wouldn't be going anywhere the following day.
"No Doug, Tess has been looking forward to going to the zoo for weeks; you take her and I'll stay with Kate." Carol responded after tucking Tess into a sleeping back on Rachel's floor. "Would Rachel want to go to the zoo?"
"Well, I can't say I've ever known her to turn down the chance to be around animals, but I'm not sure if…" he began.
"If she'd want to spend the day with Tess?" Doug laughed, finishing the sentence for Mark who simply nodded. "Well if tomorrow morning she'd like to come along then I'm sure Tess would be thrilled. If not, I'll be over around 11am to grab Tess so we can go out."
"I'll let her know tomorrow morning." Elizabeth said; Mark had an early shift and would be at the hospital by 6am so there was little chance of him seeing them the next morning.
"Good night guys and thanks." Carol and Doug hugged them good night and remembered to grab the baby monitor before heading back to the apartment they were staying in. They walked back to the apartment, arm in arm, Carol's head resting on Doug's shoulder. Silently they entered the apartment and turned off the lights after making sure to lock the door. Doug went to set the baby monitor down in their room and brushed his teeth. A few minutes later he walked back into the hall to find Carol leaning against the door frame of the twins' room, smiling softly. "She looks so sweet, doesn't she?"
"Yah, both of them do when they're sleeping." Doug replied, and then whispered into her ear, "Too bad it doesn't last."
"Doug!" she laughed, closing the door part way so she wouldn't wake Kate up with her laughed. "You are so bad!"
The two of them headed into their room for the night, both falling asleep with smiles on their faces; the end of the day having come what seemed like weeks after it'd started.